Co-Convenors: Sinjae Yoo (SB), Atsushi Tsuda (BIO), Elizabeth Logerwell (FIS), Hiroya Sugisaki (MONITOR), Kyung-Il Chang (POC), Toru Suzuki (TCODE), Thomas Therriault (AICE), Hiroaki Saito (COVE), Robin Brown (SOFE), Igor Shevchenko (Russia), Fangli Qiao (China)

Invited Speakers:
Benjamin Halpern (University of California Santa Barbara, USA)
Kitack Lee (Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea)
William Li (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, DFO, Canada)
Reiji Masuda (Kyoto University, Japan)
Hans Paerl (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA)
Ian Perry (Pacific Biological Station, DFO, Canada)
Hiroaki Saito (Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, FRA, Japan)
Xuelei Zhang (First Institute of Oceanography, SOA, China)

Human society depends on ocean ecosystems to meet many of its needs. The availability of marine ecosystem services to humans is important to sustain coastal communities and to ensure human health and well-being. Global warming, shoreline development, pollution, eutrophication, overfishing, non-indigenous species, and intensive mariculture are examples of anthropogenic stressors that affect marine ecosystems. These stressors can act alone or in combination to alter the structure, function, and productivity of marine ecosystems. Consequently, the potential for decline in the ability of the ocean to provide essential ecosystem services, as a result of synergies in natural and anthropogenic stressors, is a serious concern for human society. To advance ecosystem-based management and to mitigate the influence of stressors, there is a need to develop improved understanding of the echanisms of change in marine ecosystems. Improved understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and resilience will aid the development of practical methods to maintain and monitor ecosystem health. These are challenging issues for marine science and PICES will continue to promote research to address these issues through FUTURE.

Co-Convenors: William Cochlan (USA) and Satoshi Nagai (Japan)

Invited Speakers:
Masao Adachi (Kochi University, Japan)
Teina Rongo (Florida Institute of Technology, USA)
Patricia Tester (National Ocean Service, NOAA, USA)
Takeshi Yasumoto (National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Japan)

Ciguatera fish poisoning is a growing food-borne illness that is common in tropical waters, where poisoning numbers are poorly known but estimated to range from 50,000 to 500,000 cases per year. The incidence of ciguatera is on the rise, and appears to correspond to disturbances in the environment such as nutrients released into coastal waters, land-use changes, or warmer coastal waters. Indeed, the flagellates, Gambierdiscus and Ostreopsis, that can produce ciguatoxin- or palytoxin-like compounds, appear to be spreading to more temperate latitudes, including the waters of PICES member countries. To gain better insight to this new issue, we invite papers addressing benthic dinoflagellate taxonomy, evidence for range extension, descriptions of standardized sampling programs; assays for assessing toxicity, and sentinel products to alert public health officials to ciguatera risk. The goal of the session is to formulate a better understanding of environmental conditions fostering the prevalence of ciguatoxin-producing organisms in new geographical regions.

Co-Convenors: Jürgen Alheit (ICES/Germany), Emanuele Di Lorenzo (PICES/USA), Michael Foreman (PICES/ Canada), Shoshiro Minobe (PICES/Japan), Hiroaki Saito (PICES/Japan) and Toshio Suga (CLIVAR/Japan)

Invited Speakers:
Kenneth Drinkwater (Institute of Marine Research, Norway)
Young-Oh Kwon (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA)
Nathan Mantua (University of Washington, USA)
Yoshi N. Sasaki (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Akinori Takasuka (National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, FRA, Japan)

Physical climate variability and change exert substantial impacts on marine ecosystems, particularly on longer timescales because of the longer ocean memory compared with the atmosphere, and the cumulative effects on marine ecosystems. On a centennial scale, climate changes due to anthropogenic forcings may dominate over natural variability, but variations on decadal or shorter timescales may be mainly due to natural climate variability. Furthermore, natural climate variability can be modified via climate changes. Therefore, a correct understanding of the mechanisms underlying climate variability and change should be the basis for understanding and predicting future conditions of the North Pacific and North Atlantic. For the North Pacific there is no widely accepted consensus on the mechanisms governing decadal-to-multidecadal climate variability, and this mainly reflects the uncertainty of how, or even whether, the mid-latitude ocean influences the atmosphere. Some linkages between processes, such as oceanic memory due to Rossby wave propagation, are generally accepted, and predictability associated with these processes may also be important for understanding marine ecosystem impacts. It is also unclear if teleconnection dynamics between the North Pacific, North Atlantic and the Arctic exert an important control on the ocean’s decadal climate state. This session brings together researchers of marine ecosystems, physical oceanography and climate to share ideas about what physical parameters and processes are important in understanding and predicting the response of specific marine ecosystems to climate forcing. Through collaboration among PICES, CLIVAR and ICES, this session invites contributions exploring important developments in the research field of the North Pacific climate variability and change, including physical environmental variations and their predictability, teleconnection dynamics between oceanic basins, such as the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and linkages between physical conditions and marine ecosystems.

Co-Convenors: Steven Barbeaux (USA), Jennifer Boldt (Canada), Martin Dorn (USA) and Jae Bong Lee (Korea)

Invited Speaker:
Rudy Kloser (CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), Australia)

Long-term monitoring is a key component of an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management. Time series data enable the examination of changes in oceanographic and community metrics. Government funding sources for long-term monitoring of biological and oceanographic processes has dwindled in recent years, while the mandate for this type of information has increased. If data driven ecosystem-based management continues to be goal then methods for reducing the costs of data collection must be found while data quality is maintained. An example of this type of innovative approach can be found in Alaska walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) fishery where researchers have teamed with commercial fishers to deploy inexpensive temperature and depth data storage tags on trawl nets. At the same time, data on fish density and distribution are being collected using the fishing vessels’ own acoustic systems. These data are being used to validate oceanographic models, to assess the effects of oceanographic conditions on bycatch in the walleye pollock fishery, and to evaluate the effects of oceanographic conditions on walleye pollock density and distribution. This session is intended to explore the ways in which cooperative research with other seagoing stakeholders and the use of commercial and recreational vessels as sampling platforms for biological and oceanographic monitoring can be integrated into ocean monitoring systems. With sufficient interest by the contributors, a special issue of Fisheries Research will be sought.

Co-Convenors: Keith Criddle (USA), Suam Kim (Korea), Mitsutaku Makino (Japan), Ian Perry (Canada), Yasunori Sakurai (Japan) and Anatoliy Velikanov (Russia)

Invited Speakers:
Oleg Bulatov (Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, Russia)
Alan Haynie (Alaska Fisheries Science Center)

In order to build bridges between scientists, decision-makers, stakeholders, and across sectors, there is a need for more in-depth and concrete inter-disciplinary research framework in the context of the PICES integrative science program FUTURE. One of the typical groundfish resources in the North Pacific, pollock is highlighted to facilitate such academic discussions under the PICES framework. Research on walleye pollock from the perspectives of ecology, biology, stock dynamics, harvesting, fisheries management, history, marketing, processing, international trade, consumption, and culture will be presented. Inter-relationships among these varied perspectives, information needs, potential values for other disciplines, etc., will be discussed during this session. An expected outcome of this session will be a holistic framework for the inter-disciplinary research, which could be applied to other species.

Co-Convenors: Peter Ross (Canada), Hideshige Takada (Japan) and Yutaka Watanuki (Japan)

Invited Speakers:
John Elliott (Science & Technology Branch Environment Canada)
Atsuhiko Isobe (Ehime University, Japan)
Andy Sweetman (Centre for Chemical Management, Lancaster University, UK)
Hideshige Takada (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan)
Rei Yamashita (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan)

Urban and industrial developments in the world’s coastal regions have led to the release of a large number of pollutants (heavy metals, POPs, plastics, oils, radioactive substances) into the marine environment. In some cases, these have detrimental effects on variety of marine resources in coastal and offshore areas. It is increasingly important to identify sources, subsequent transport through marine physical systems and resulting spatial patterns of these anthropogenic stressors. Compared to river-lake systems, knowledge of anthropogenic stressors in marine systems is less understood due to difficulties with detection over wide areas and in offshore regions. As top predators, such as many marine mammals and seabirds, bio-magnify some of these pollutants, these organisms can be used as bio-indicators of coastal, marine and/or food web contamination. The utility of these ‘sentinels’ was discussed at the PICES-2011 MEQ Workshop. This session will: 1) identify spatial patterns and geographic areas of concern (high concentrations) of pollutants or other stressors in the PICES region using bio-indicator species, 2) examine mechanisms of transport, and ultimate disposition, of contaminants in marine ecosystems, and 3) discuss health risks for certain predators and human consumers. Review papers, case studies, and innovative methods papers on anthropogenic stressors in marine predators are invited, as well as papers that distinguish between the effects of natural and anthropogenic stressors. In particular, studies linking predator habitat use with spatial aspects of stressors in the environment and in predators are encouraged.

Co-Convenors: Richard Brodeur (PICES/USA), Cornelia Jaspers (ICES/Denmark), Christopher Lynam (ICES/UK), Song Sun (PICES/China), Shin-Ichi Uye (PICES/Japan) and Won-Duk Yoon (PICES/Korea)

Invited Speakers:
Thomas K. Doyle (University College Cork, Ireland)
William M. Graham (University of Southern Mississippi, USA)
Reiji Masuda (Kyoto University, Japan)

Evidence is accumulating that gelatinous zooplankton populations have increased substantially in many regions of the world, most likely through anthropogenic stresses, but we have insufficient understanding of how these blooms affect fish and, more broadly, marine ecosystems. Some benefits of jellyfish to marine fish include provisioning of food for some species and shelter for juvenile stages of several others. There is also a relatively minor human benefit in that some jellyfish are both commercially fished and cultured for human consumption in several countries. However, the negative effects of jellyfish population outbursts are thought to greatly exceed any positive ones and their effects on ecosystems and the economies that depend on them can be profound. These effects have been examined through field studies, controlled laboratory experiments, and estimated using quantitative ecosystem models. Jellyfish are generally detrimental to fish because they feed on zooplankton and ichthyoplankton, and so are both predators and potential competitors of fish. Relatively little of the energy consumed by gelatinous zooplankton ends up at higher trophic levels of interest to humans compared to krill and forage fishes. Jellyfish blooms also directly impact commercial fisheries through filling or clogging trawls and fouling fixed gear and aquaculture net pens, resulting in enormous economic losses worldwide. This session will focus on empirical field, laboratory, or modeling studies that examine the effects jellyfish have on marine ecosystems, fish species and fisheries, and relevant ecosystem-based management issues important to the needs of society over wide-ranging space and time-scales up to and including climate variations.

Co-Convenors: Enrique Curchitser (USA), Shin-ichi Ito (Japan) and Michio Kishi (Japan)

Invited Speaker:
Robert Humston (Washington and Lee University, USA)

In order to understand ecosystem response to climate impacts, End-to-End modeling (E2E) approaches are essential. One of the most difficult parts for E2E is the modeling of fish migration. Fish behavior can be very complex; it is a consequence of genetics, physical, chemical and biological environments and their interaction. Learned behavior may also be a factor. To model fish behavior, integrated studies are needed including laboratory experiments, tagging and acoustic observations, and modeling. The purpose of this session is to review the current state of development in laboratory experiments, field observations and modeling to understand fish behavior and to discuss future potential collaborations to improve fish migration models. Presentations related to laboratory experiments, field observations and modeling works related to fish behavior are welcome.

Co-Convenors: Ik-Kyo Chung (Korea) and Jun Shoji (Japan)

Invited Speakers:
Masakazu Hori (National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea, Japan)
Katsumasa Yamada (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan)

Diverse communities of marine and estuarine macrophyte vegetation including kelp beds, seaweeds, macrobenthic algae, seagrasses, and salt marshes occur along the coastlines of the PICES member countries. In addition to the direct primary production of organic material into marine ecosystems, these macrophytic communities are also considered as ecological engineers that can have important indirect supporting roles in the lives of heterotrophic organisms such as fishes, shellfish, seabirds, and other marine organisms. Seasonal growth and breakdown of macrophytic vegetation has important implications for the biochemistry of essential nutrients in the nearshore zones, and for the interactions among vertebrate and invertebrate members of marine and estuarine communities. Fluctuations in physical and chemical parameters such as sea water temperature, salinity, nutrient availability, incident light levels, water flow, and sediment conditions contribute as complex regulating factors toward the establishment and persistence of macrophyte communities. In contrast, the physical structure of the macrophytes themselves can modify the local environment, affect the composition and abundance of their associated organisms, and provide essential ecological roles as recruitment sites, nursery areas, foraging habitats, and sinks for marine carbon. These interactions among ambient environmental parameters, macrophytes, and their associated organisms are collectively known as ecosystem functions and services, which are influenced not only by natural forces but also by anthropogenic stressors. The topic session will focus on the ecological functions and services provided by diverse communities of macrophytes throughout the North Pacific coastal zone. In particular, presentations are encouraged that explore the diversity and dynamics of ecosystem functions and services provided by macrophytes that may be regarded as biotic indicators of natural shifts and human-induced stressors in nearshore ecosystems.

Co-Convenors: Vladimir Kulik (Russia), Ian Perry (Canada) and Motomitsu Takahashi (Japan)

Invited Speaker:
Natalie Ban (James Cook University, Australia)

Marine ecosystems of the North Pacific, both coastal and offshore, are influenced by multiple tressors, such as increased temperature, change in iron supply, harmful algal blooms, invasive species, hypoxia/eutrophication, ocean acidification, and intensive fishing. These multiple stressors can (but do not always) act synergistically to change ecosystem structure, function, and dynamics in unexpected ways that can differ from responses to single stressors. Further, these stressors can be expected to vary by region and over time. This session seeks to understand the responses of various marine ecosystems to multiple stressors and to identify appropriate indicators of these effects. Contributions are invited which review and define categories of indicators to document the status and trends of ecosystem change at a variety of spatial scales (e.g., coastal, regional, basin) in response to multiple stressors. Emphasis will be placed on empirical and theoretical approaches that forge links between ecosystem change and the intensities of multiple stressors. This session will form a contribution to the work of PICES WG 28 on Development of Ecosystem Indicators to Characterize Ecosystem Responses to Multiple Stressors (http://www.pices.int/members/working_groups/wg28.aspx).

Co-Convenors: Michael Foreman (Canada), Toyomitsu Horii (Japan), Vladimir Kulik (Russia), Phillip Mundy (USA), Sei-ichi Saitoh (Japan), Hiroya Sugisaki (Japan) and Tokio Wada (Japan)

Invited Speakers:
Josef Cherniawsky (Institute of Ocean Sciences, Canada)
Shin-ichi Ito (Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, Japan)
Nikolai Maximenko (International Pacific Research Center, USA)
Stanley Rice (University of Tampa, USA)
Masahiro Yamao (Hiroshima University, Japan)

From ancient times, we have been discussing and taking countermeasures on revival of fisheries and social infrastructures of waterside from natural disasters such as tsunamis and floods. The earthquake (Magnitude 9.0) that occurred in northeastern Japan on the 11th of March, 2011, was beyond our imagination. The earthquake and the subsequent gigantic tsunami destroyed the regional fisheries and surrounding society, and impacted marine ecosystems in eastern Japan. The tsunami also damaged the nuclear power plant of Fukushima, posing a serious threat to the North Pacific ecosystems due to the radioactive contamination of the ocean. Other recent examples of disasters which caused serious problems of environmental pollution for the marine ecosystems are hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the oil spill of the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The magnitude of climatic disasters such as storms and floods may have been enhanced due to global warming. Since oil refineries, factories, power plants and other industrial infrastructures are often built in the coastal areas of the world, coastal ecosystems are vulnerable to natural and artificial disasters. For the wise use of ecosystem services, it is urgent and important to reveal the effects of natural and artificial disasters on marine ecosystems, to document their restoration processes, and to promote effective measures for restoration and mitigation of disaster impacts. The purposes of this session are to discuss: (1) the effect on the marine ecosystem by disasters, (2) the effect on the marine industries and societies by disasters, (3) schemes for the mitigations and recoveries from the disasters, (4) field monitoring on the effect and the process of recoveries, (5) domestic and international cooperation, and (6) policy and its effect.

Co-Convenors: Taro Ichii (Japan), Skip McKinnell (PICES) and Michael Seki (USA)

Invited Speaker:
Hiromichi Igarashi (Data Research Center for Marine-Earth Science, JAMSTEC, Japan)

The goal of this session is to compile a comprehensive collection of papers for the first time in two decades that can serve to synthesize knowledge of the roles of climate, physics, chemistry, biology, and humans in the Subtropical Frontal Zone (STFZ). The STFZ is a large, seasonally variable, dynamic, and complex oceanic region spanning the breadth of the North Pacific Ocean from Asia to North America. Its large-scale fronts and mesoscale processes give rise to localized “hot spots” of enhanced biological aggregation. The productivity of the region provides the ecological underpinnings for multi-national commercial fisheries. The STFZ provides important habitat for many species of fish and squid, seabirds, and marine mammals that undergo extensive seasonal migrations between the STZF and summer feeding grounds in the Subarctic. Concern for interactions between protected species, such as loggerhead turtles, and fisheries are focus areas of interest today, as is the health and productivity of the fisheries resources. Finally, interest in the effect of marine debris that is accumulating in oceanic “garbage patches” is increasing, perhaps exacerbated by growing interest in the fate of the debris field in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami near Japan. This session would provide valuable information on potential impacts of climate and humans on marine ecosystem in the STFZ. The compilation of papers submitted to this session will be published in a special issue of Progress in Oceanography.

Co-Convenors: Masahide Kaeriyama (Japan) and Thomas Therriault (Canada)

Invited Speaker:
Erlend Moksness (Institute of Marine Research, Norway)

Currently, approximately 60% of the world’s population lives within 60 km of the coast, and this number is expected to reach 75% within the next two decades due to increased population growth. The coastal zone is an extremely complex environment that includes both coastal, nearshore marine and estuarine ecosystems, and the adjacent terrestrial area. Human populations around the North Pacific rely heavily on this zone for their livelihood, but growing pressures from increasingly diverse human activities coupled with climate change and natural catastrophes (e.g., earthquake and tsunami) threaten the sustainability and productivity of coastal ecosystems. Risk management based on adaptive management and precautionary principles, is one way to prioritize, identify, and potentially mitigate impacts resulting from diverse human activities in coastal zones. This session will focus on: (1) preparation and countermeasures to respond to natural catastrophes; (2) protection of coastal zone ecosystems from human-mediated impacts (e.g., habitat loss, pollution, harmful algal events, invasive species), and (3) the institution and protection of marine protected areas (MPAs).

Co-Convenors: Silvana Birchenough (ICES/UK), Steven Bograd (PICES/USA), Arthur Chen (IGBP),
Masao Ishii (PICES/Japan) and Tony Koslow (PICES/USA)

Invited Speakers:
Curtis Deutsch (University California Los Angeles, USA)
Akihiko Murata (JAMSTEC, Japan)
Brad Seibel (University of Rhode Island, USA)

Ocean biogeochemistry is undergoing rapid and growing anthropogenic change. A significant fraction of anthropogenic CO₂ is taken up by the ocean, which drives down pH and reduces the saturation state of carbonate minerals like calcite and aragonite, a process known as “ocean acidification”. Global climate models also predict that dissolved oxygen concentrations in the deep ocean will decline by 20-40% over the coming century or so as global warming enhances stratification of the upper mixed layer and reduces ventilation of the deep ocean. Declining oxygen levels have now been reported from mid-ocean depths in the tropical oceans and across the North Pacific. Both processes are of particular concern in the North Pacific, where the water is naturally “old” and has shallow carbonate saturation horizons, relatively low buffering capacity, and extensive oxygen minimum zones. It is anticipated that these anthropogenic influences on the global ocean will increase in coming decades as atmospheric CO₂ levels and global temperatures continue to rise. We invite papers on the changing biogeochemistry of the global ocean, its impacts on organisms and ecosystem function, and emergent impacts on biogochemical cycles related to the interaction of ocean acidification and declining oxygen with climate change and other anthropogenic impacts.

Co-Convenors: Michael Dagg (USA), Hiroaki Saito (Japan) and Atsushi Tsuda (Japan)

The Biological Oceanography Committee (BIO) has a wide range of interests spanning from molecular to global scales. BIO targets all organisms living in the marine environment including bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton, micronekton, benthos and marine birds and mammals. In this session, we welcome all papers on biological aspects of marine science in the PICES region. Contributions from the early career scientists are especially encouraged.

Co-Convenors: Xianshi Jin (China) and Elizabeth Logerwell (USA)

This session invites papers addressing general topics in fishery science and fisheries oceanography in the North Pacific and its marginal seas, except those covered by FIS-sponsored Topic Sessions.

Co-Convenors: Kyung-Il Chang (Korea) and Michael Foreman (Canada)

Papers are invited on all aspects of physical oceanography and climate in the North Pacific and its marginal seas, except those covered by POC-sponsored Topic Sessions.

Co-Convenors: Jennifer Boldt (Canada), Vladimir Kulik (Russia), Chaolun Li (China), Jameal Samhouri (USA), Motomitsu Takahashi (Japan) and Chang-Ik Zhang (Korea)

Invited Speaker:
Natalie Ban (James Cook University, Australia)

Multiple natural and human stressors on marine ecosystems are common throughout the North Pacific, and may act synergistically to change ecosystem structure, function and dynamics in unexpected ways that can differ from responses to single stressors. Further, these stressors can be expected to vary by region, and over time. This workshop seeks to understand responses of various marine ecosystems to multiple stressors, and to identify and characterize critical stressors in PICES regional ecosystems including appropriate indicators of their impacts. The goal is to help determine how ecosystems might change in the future and to identify ecosystems that may be vulnerable to the combine impacts of natural and anthropogenic forcing. Contributions are invited which identify and characterize the spatial and temporal extent of critical stressors in marine ecosystems (both coastal and offshore regions) of PICES member countries, and in particular the locations at which multiple stressors interact. Contributions will include a review and identification of broad categories of indicators which document the status and trends of ecosystem change at the most appropriate spatial scale (e.g., coastal, regional, basin) in response to these multiple stressors. This workshop is linked with the topic session titled “ Ecosystem responses to multiple stressors in the North Pacific ” but is designed to provide more in-depth examination and discussion of the spatial and temporal extents of critical marine ecosystem stressors and their potential indicators. It will assist with progress towards the goals of PICES WG 28 on Development of Ecosystem Indicators to Characterize Ecosystem Responses to Multiple Stressors (http://www.pices.int/members/working_groups/wg28.aspx).

Co-Convenors: Toru Kobari (Japan) and William Peterson (USA)

Invited Speaker:
Lidia Yebra (Oceanographic Center of Málaga, Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), Spain)

Zooplankton communities play important roles on the transfer of primary production to higher trophic levels of marine ecosystems. In the past two decades, the quantitative evaluation of the energy flow has been emphasized for better understanding how marine ecosystems respond to climate change and global warming. To date, primary production can be globally estimated with remote sensing techniques and validated with in situ experiments using radio or stable isotope. Although secondary production has been estimated with various methods (natural cohort, artificial cohort, molting rate, egg production, nucleic acids ratio, enzyme activity and empirical models), there is little information which method is relevant for natural zooplankton population or community. Thereby, we have little knowledge or confidence of secondary production measurements compared with that of primary production. In this workshop, we intend to review current methodologies to measure secondary production. Through published reports of secondary production on natural zooplankton population or community, this workshop will clarify the assumptions, advantages and disadvantages for each method. We will also discuss new techniques (nucleic acids ratio, enzyme activity, chitobiase, or other methods) and challenges in the calibration between the estimates using different methods.

Co-Convenors: George Hunt, Jr. (USA), Hidehiro Kato (Japan) and Michael Seki (USA)

Invited Speaker:
Robert Olson (Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, USA) - cancelled

It has been 12 years since the publication of PICES Scientific Report No. 14 on “Predation by marine birds and mammals in the subarctic North Pacific Ocean” edited by Hunt, G.L. Jr., Kato, H., and McKinnell, S.M. This publication is the sole overview of the trophic requirements and trophic roles of marine birds and mammals for the North Pacific, and has been a much used reference by a wide variety of scientists including those interested in modeling the roles of marine birds and mammals. As of 2012, Google Scholar lists 49 citations of this report. In the 12 years since its publication, it has become rather considerably out of date. Our knowledge of the distribution and abundance of marine birds and mammals has advanced greatly, as has our knowledge of the food habits of a number of species. Additionally, there has been an increase in interest in the roles of large predatory fish in the
world’s oceans. Thus it would seem timely to provide an update of PICES Scientific Publication 14, and, if there is interest for it, to include information on prey consumption by large predatory fishes.

Co-Convenors: Kenneth Drinkwater (ESSAS/Norway), Jackie Grebmeier (ESSAS/USA),
James Overland (PICES/USA) and Sei-Ichi Saitoh (PICES/Japan)

Invited Speakers:
Seth Danielson (University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA)
Ichiro Imai (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Eiji Watanabe (JAMSTEC, Japan)

Exchanges of water masses and their associated flora and fauna strongly link the marine Arctic and the Subarctic. Both regions have undergone significant warming, and there has been reduced sea-ice in recent years in some regions. Climate change scenarios indicate that these regions are likely to experience even greater warming and transformation in the future. To better understand how climate variability and change will affect these marine ecosystems from biogeochemical processes, through the food web to the highest tropic levels, it is essential to improve our knowledge of the role of physical and biological fluxes between the Subarctic and Arctic and the fate of the transported organisms. Therefore, this workshop will examine the influence of the warm Subarctic inflows on the physical conditions and biology in the Arctic basin and shelves, as well as the role of fluxes of water from the Arctic basin onto the surrounding shallow shelves and into the Subarctic. Papers that cover multiple trophic levels or investigate biophysical coupling are especially sought. Also, we encourage presentations on the observed changes that are occurring as well as those on possible scenarios under climate change. Relevant experimental studies, field programs and modeling of Arctic-Subarctic interactions will be considered. Emphasis will be on the Arctic-Pacific Ocean linkages but those considering the exchanges in the Atlantic are also welcome.

Co-Convenors: Harold Batchelder (USA), Shin-Ichi Ito (Japan), Angelica Pena (Canada), Yvette Spitz (USA)

This will be the first MEMIP (Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project) workshop where we have completed model comparisons within single shelf systems; e.g., within the Northern California Shelf, Gulf of Alaska shelf and Oyashio shelf and offshore, individually. The workshop tasks will be to undertake quantitative assessment of the successes and shortcomings of individual models within regions and across regions. This formal skill assessment is a key activity to enable MEMIP to identify which, if any, of the various ecosystem models have broad skill spatially and temporally in multiple North Pacific shelf ecosystems. The observations (nutrients, chlorophyll and zooplankton biomass) from the key years of simulation (2000-2003) have been compiled to enable model-data comparisons for each of the three regions. To our knowledge this will be the first multiple model skill assessment that extends to zooplankton, e.g., beyond phytoplankton, and the first that focuses on ecosystem models applied to coastal systems. We anticipate one or several peer-reviewed scientific papers and a MEMIP report to result from this workshop.

Co-Convenors: Changkyu Lee (Korea) and Mark Wells (USA)

Invited Speakers:
Sanae Chiba (JAMSTEC, Japan)
William Peterson (Hatfield Marine Science Center, NMFS, USA)

Harmful algal blooms reached historic levels along coastlines of the eastern Pacific in 2011, but similar blooms were minimal to non-existent in Japan, Korea and Russia. The situation was largely reversed in 2007, and this disparity between these years offers a unique opportunity to compare and contrast the basic environmental parameters and HAB dynamics during these regimes. Combining these observations with a broader overview of the basin-scale physical dynamics during this time frame would provide new insights to the factors enhancing these blooms. The workshop foundation will be the pre-submission of available data from member countries, including but not limited to: HAB species presence and abundance, time of year, temperature range, salinity range, water clarity, wind, river flow (flooding), and upwelling indices. Workshop participants will review and discuss the trends and patterns in these data over the first day, and integrate them with information on the basinscale physical dynamics. Participants will develop a detailed outline for manuscript preparation during the second day, with agreed writing assignments and draft submission deadlines. The manuscript will be targeted for the appropriate international journal decided upon by participants.

Co-Convenors: Hans Paerl (USA) and Kedong Yin (China)

Invited Speaker:
William Li (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, DFO, Canada)

Phytoplankton biomass and community structure have undergone dramatic changes in coastal ecosystems over the past several decades in response to climate variability and human disturbance. These changes have short- and longer-term impacts on global carbon and nutrient cycling, food web structure and productivity, and coastal ecosystem services. There is a need to identify the underlying processes and measure rates at which they alter coastal ecosystems on a global scale. Hence, the Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR) formed Working Group 137 (WG 137) on Global Patterns of Phytoplankton Dynamics in Coastal Ecosystems: Comparative Analysis of Time Series Observations (http://wg137.net/). To address fundamental questions that emerged, WG 137 will use data compiled from 84 sampling stations, representing research and monitoring programs spread across five continents, and is seeking additional time series of coastal/estuarine/near-shore phytoplankton and relevant hydrographic data. Investigators with decadal observational data are encouraged to contribute to this growing compilation and discuss interests in collaboration. The wealth of information in these data sets provides an unprecedented opportunity to develop a global analysis and investigation of the dynamics and status of ecosystems where land and sea meet. The workshop will cover conceptual models of phytoplankton community variability and quantitative approaches for extracting patterns from time series.

Co-Convenors: Ruizhang Guan (China), Tatsu Kishida (FRA, Japan), Akihiro Mae (Japan), Tae Won Lee (Korea), Wann-Nian Tzeng (Chinese Taipei) and Kazuo Uchida (FRA, Japan)

The production of Japanese eel relies mainly on the aquaculture of natural juveniles (glass eel). In recent years, the catch of glass eel has been fluctuating from year to year but remained at the low level. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss the reasons and mechanisms for the inter-annual variation in glass eel recruitment in the coastal area of eastern Asia in order to sustain the stock of Japanese eel. Discussion is also expected on international collaboration and effective measures for sustaining glass eel recruitment.